In order to become proficient shooters, serious basketball players take hundreds or even thousands of shots per day. In a common scenario, one player shoots a number of shots, while one or more other players (or ball shaggers) retrieve made or missed shots, and pass balls back to the player that is shooting. In addition to the task of retrieving balls being exhausting (and, in some cases boring, as compared to shooting), the player (or players) retrieving basketballs must wait his (their) turn to receive an opportunity to shoot, which is an inefficient use of his (their) time.
Furthermore, due to a variety of time-constraints, the number of shots that a player may be able to take may be quite limited. For example, during the off-season (i.e., the summer months in North America), professional basketball players may shoot one thousand shots per day in an effort to improve their shot. Using ball shaggers, it may take a professional basketball player about three hours to shoot one thousand shots. During the regular season, when players are traveling and when players often are sharing a basket with their teammates, professional basketball players have rare opportunities to shoot one thousand shots in a day using a ball shagger.
It is also important for coaches to understand the shooting strengths and shooting weaknesses of each of their players. Because professional basketball coaches are unable to be present at each of their players' shooting sessions and because viewing a limited number of shots does not provide a sufficient sample-size to make a proper assessment, coaches often do not understand the shooting strengths and weaknesses of their players. Even if coaches could attend their players' shooting sessions, it is extremely tedious to record, by hand, the location of each shot and whether it was made or missed. It is also somewhat tedious to have to compute a player's shooting percentage at each location. In view of the above, coaches cannot easily design shooting drills that are tailored for each of their players to help their players improve their shooting ability.
The aforementioned problems are exacerbated at the college level where coaches are limited to approximately nineteen hours of supervised coaching time according to NCAA regulations. During the off-season, with little exception, college coaches are unable to practice with their teams at all. Furthermore, in contrast to the professional level, coaching resources are more limited and players generally have more shooting weaknesses. In addition, due to the demands associated with their schooling, it is important that college basketball players make efficient use of their time in developing their shooting proficiency.
Recreational basketball players, as well as relatively younger basketball players, may have an even more difficult time determining their shooting strengths and weaknesses because, among other things, they are sharing resources with many other individuals. In many areas, gymnasiums are over-crowded and, therefore, it is extremely difficult to shoot a large number of shots at a variety of locations on a basketball court. Additionally, because players' shots may interfere with one another (e.g., due to two or more players' shots arriving at the rim at the same time), it is difficult to properly record the results to determine shooting proficiency at such locations.
In view of the above, it would be desirable to develop a system and/or method which allows multiple players to shoot a basketball at a basket and which automatically retrieves and passes basketballs to multiple players shooting at the basket, thereby making efficient use of the basketball players' time. Furthermore, it would be desirable to develop a system and/or method which also allows players to shoot at the basket at various angles and distances, while the players maintain a somewhat fixed position relative to the floor (or ground). Even further, it would be desirable to develop a system and/or method such that the various angles and distances simulate nearly all meaningful shooting locations (other than lay-ups, for example) on a basketball court. Yet further, it would be desirable a system and/or method which assesses a player's shooting strengths and weaknesses at nearly all meaningful shooting locations (except lay-ups). Yet even further, it would be desirable to develop a system and/or method which reduces the likelihood of two or more players' shots interfering with one another due to balls reaching the rim at the same time.
In addition, in game situations, when basketball players are under pressure, they often shoot “short” shots. That is, due to nervousness or defensive pressure, a shooter may become tense and, therefore, not exert sufficient energy on the basketball to permit it to pass through the rim. Rarely do players shoot “long” shots when they are under pressure. Accordingly, it would be desirable to develop a system and/or method which will train basketball players (e.g., by muscle memory) to shoot shots that are capable of passing through the rim, whether or not they are under pressure.